Three Retirement Hubs to Spend Your Pension On

$370 per week is enough for retirees to live in Christchurch or Raglan – but it’s enough for them to live like kings overseas. International Living has found three global retirement hubs where a pension stretches much further.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Although Ho Chi Minh is a fast-paced city, it’s also incredibly welcoming and well-connected to the rest of the world. It’s a hotspot for start-ups, English teaching, and digital nomads, so for those looking to retire more actively this is the place to go.

Adventurous pensioners will enjoy the city’s street food, coffee shops, and entertainment – all for less than $2,000 a month living costs. With that in mind, Ho Chi Minh is one of the more expensive places to live in Vietnam – if you travel a little further out you can live cheaper.

Lovina, Indonesia

Many pensioners will have visited the tourist trap of Bali at least once in their lives. Lovina is a little different – a city on the north of the island, not in the boisterous southern beachfronts.

Lovina is a place for calm, contemplative retirement. A two-bedroom, two-bathroom villa will cost around $450 per month, and food is famously cheap – you can dine out for as little as three dollars.

Although far away from the Australian centres of Kuta and Uluwatu, Lovina still has some Western luxuries: spas, Western restaurants, and a good cocktail.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

The capital of Cambodia has a low cost of living for high levels of activity. For around $2,000 per month, a couple could enjoy a full and satisfying lifestyle.

Busy marketplaces and food centres mean there’s always something to sink your teeth into, and the French colonial architecture reveals the more recent history of the country right next to its ancient temples.

Immigrants from New Zealand and Australia can enjoy household luxuries they couldn’t back home: housekeepers, gardeners, and a golf club membership.